Doherty and the future

[#1PONYUP]

Most here have been disappointed with the amount of wins and "overall progress" this team has seemed to have NOT made...It's great to have alumni like SMU that care and support this program with their time, money, and energy, that expect more wins out of THEIR program. As you all know, the past decade has been tumultuous with many changes and without much success. Coach Doherty took over a program that was struggling with no place to go but up. Unfortunately, things haven't gone as expected for most, but for those who know how difficult the situation was--he has accomplished many things and is steadily changing the perception internally of the program. Many question his style of coaching and criticize his game management (it's always nice to have the luxury of hindsight). Coach Doherty only asks that a player listens, competes and completely buys into what he is trying to accomplish at SMU--no tolerance, blue collar, get things accomplished the right way with discipline. Coach Doherty has a tremendous staff that empowers kids to do well and to reach their full potential...all they ask is for you to do the right thing--all the time. This years team is full of youth with an enormous amount of upside. Give these young men your time, support, and energy like you already do and things will turn out great in the coming seasons. The 2012 recruiting class is phenomenal and the move to the Big East will pay dividends in recruiting the Northeast. Coach Doherty is a tireless worker, recruiter, and an even better man. The thing I respect most about Coach Doherty is the standard he holds everyone to. You may be reprimanded publicly (which is what most see), but not everyone sees what he does behind the scenes. Turning a program around the right way takes many years. I truly believe the right man to do it is Matt Doherty--the corner is about to be turned, the perception is changing at SMU, and even though some may not be able to notice--a brighter future is ahead...sooner than some might expect. I fully respect the view and stance that people have on this subject...but I felt compelled to post and to provide another point of view.

PONY UP!!!!

[mustangbill67]

Just curious if you are kin to Travis Bickle?

[redpony]

Didn't know doh had so many kids that could post on here. Suprised his wife hasn't chimed in yet.

GO PONIES!!!

[SMUer]

Win, win, win and don't coach vomit-inducing basketball.

[Hoop Fan]

its a tough, cruel business, it really is. I thank the players and coaches for their efforts in beating TCU, that is a game that is very important to the fans. It was nice to win one. Being 2-7 and in last place in CUSA is pretty bad stuff though. Being a good guy and running a clean program is great, but at SMU its automatic. All of our football and basketball coaches over the past 20 years have been solid citizens and run clean programs, with a few minor hiccups along the way. But the bottom line for all coaches is they have to win and get the fan base enthused. I don't know if you were around during Dements tenure (basically the tenure Doh succeeded and the best measuring stick for Doh), i'm guessing you were not, but those were much better days in terms of winning, attendance, enthusiasm and entertaining basketball. Some of those teams were very young too, with freshman and underclassmen contributing if not leading the way - Q Ross, Sasser, Davis, Woods. No offense, but even Stephen Woods was 3 times the player and point guard that Frog is. Why has Doh turned the program over to Frog? I don't know, good kid, but not exactly program changing at all - SMU has done much better, even in the recent past. Just can't have the huge holes at point guard and in the post in year 6 of any tenure, no matter what you think of the situation you inherited. I wish Doh luck i really do, but barring something amazing happening on the court to finish this season, its time for a change.

[Treadway21]

Hoopfan,
Well stated. Wish the situation was different for Doherty, but 6 years is a lot of time in today's college athletics.

[LA_Mustang]

I echo a lot of what HoopFan said. Doherty has done many good things at SMU. He came into a terrible situation and accomplished a lot in terms of facilities and perception of the program. Unfortunately, he hasn't demonstrated the gameday coaching ability for us win in C-USA. That is only going to be magnified against much better coaches in the Big East. IMO, Doherty's skill set is built more for the AD roll rather than coaching - a very smart and driven person with excellent sales skills.

[abezontar]

J-FROG was our point guard last year and we went 8-8 in the league and won 20 games. What is the difference this year? Papa, Rob N, Collin, Walker, Harp, Clints, our big's who gave us EFFORT, Haynes who would have showed this year's team how to really make maximum use of every second you are on the floor. He was like Harp a guy without a position but did what ever the coach wanted. Loved that team and imagine they all received their degrees from SMU. Haynes obviously transferred and do I ever wish we had Oats and him with us. Those above mentioned players all had two things - limited talented except for Papa but they played together and had heart.

You can buy out Doh's contract but we may never see a 20 game winner in the next 6-9 years without him at the helm. His staff is the best also but go ahead and buy them out.

We also may not see another 20 game winner with doh at the helm.

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[LHS81]

Jalen is the only Mustang, who is willing to break his opponent down and drive the ball to the basket. I seriously hope he stays at SMU and gets his degree, while improving his game. Not sure that will happen with the Princeton system.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

Six years is plenty of time to try to turn around a program. He has made some progress but it's not the level that is expected. His record this year is abysmal. Time for SMU to get real serious about basketball because I don't want our program to be the laughing stock of the BE. We need to step up because the level of competition in basketball in the BE is beyond what we will find in the BE in football. Let's get us a coach that can not only recruit but also actually COACH.

[Charleston Pony]

It seems the popular thing to do has been to bash Frog for his play at PG, but I just can't join in. Woods was 3 times the PG??? He may have been more of a scorer, but is that what you want from your PG? I prefer a guy who dishes out assists and has a strong assist:turnover ratio. Frog has a 2:1 ratio which is as good as we've seen from the PG position in years. I'd like 3:1, but Frog protects the ball and distributes better than any point we've had in recent history. Yes, I'd like him to hit better than 34% from 3 pt range to help open the floor (what % did Woods shoot?) , but I expect that to improve as he gets stronger. I really like Frog's 83% FT shooting. Put the ball in his hands when you are trying to protect a lead late in the game. Just wish we had more opportunities to protect leads.

That said, this thread isn't about Frog. It's about Doherty's future. I watch this team and believe we are pretty close (talent wise) to most of the teams we play, but our guys play tentatively and without confidence. Is that on the coach, or the player's heart and competitive drive? I can't answer that one. I want Doherty to succeed, but I said that about Shumate, Dement and Tubbs. I will trust Orsini and the money guys to make a change if/when they think it's necessary.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

It seems the popular thing to do has been to bash Frog for his play at PG, but I just can't join in. Woods was 3 times the PG??? He may have been more of a scorer, but is that what you want from your PG? I prefer a guy who dishes out assists and has a strong assist:turnover ratio. Frog has a 2:1 ratio which is as good as we've seen from the PG position in years. I'd like 3:1, but Frog protects the ball and distributes better than any point we've had in recent history. Yes, I'd like him to hit better than 34% from 3 pt range to help open the floor (what % did Woods shoot?) , but I expect that to improve as he gets stronger. I really like Frog's 83% FT shooting. Put the ball in his hands when you are trying to protect a lead late in the game. Just wish we had more opportunities to protect leads.

That said, this thread isn't about Frog. It's about Doherty's future. I watch this team and believe we are pretty close (talent wise) to most of the teams we play, but our guys play tentatively and without confidence. Is that on the coach, or the player's heart and competitive drive? I can't answer that one. I want Doherty to succeed, but I said that about Shumate, Dement and Tubbs. I will trust Orsini and the money guys to make a change if/when they think it's necessary.

I think the problem is that many fans here (and probably rightfully so) don't believe Orsini gives a bleep about basketball. So it's not certain if he will ever make the change.

[Charleston Pony]

It seems the popular thing to do has been to bash Frog for his play at PG, but I just can't join in. Woods was 3 times the PG??? He may have been more of a scorer, but is that what you want from your PG? I prefer a guy who dishes out assists and has a strong assist:turnover ratio. Frog has a 2:1 ratio which is as good as we've seen from the PG position in years. I'd like 3:1, but Frog protects the ball and distributes better than any point we've had in recent history. Yes, I'd like him to hit better than 34% from 3 pt range to help open the floor (what % did Woods shoot?) , but I expect that to improve as he gets stronger. I really like Frog's 83% FT shooting. Put the ball in his hands when you are trying to protect a lead late in the game. Just wish we had more opportunities to protect leads.

That said, this thread isn't about Frog. It's about Doherty's future. I watch this team and believe we are pretty close (talent wise) to most of the teams we play, but our guys play tentatively and without confidence. Is that on the coach, or the player's heart and competitive drive? I can't answer that one. I want Doherty to succeed, but I said that about Shumate, Dement and Tubbs. I will trust Orsini and the money guys to make a change if/when they think it's necessary.

I think the problem is that many fans here (and probably rightfully so) don't believe Orsini gives a bleep about basketball. So it's not certain if he will ever make the change.

Always tougher to fire a guy you hired. Tougher to admit YOU made a mistake than to cut loose a guy you inherited

[FriscoPMG]

We can agree to disagree and I like Mike Dement but we never won the conference, players didn't graduate, and we had one NIT game that we got beat very bad. I would much rather win 3 CIT Games against quaility opponents. Mike also played a very deliberate style until he "sold out" and starting running.

To each his own, but you'd seriously take this 6 year run of SMU basketball over the Dement years? Yes, his teams flamed out and underachieved in multiple seasons, but we were regularly flirting with Top 25 votes, playing games against good TCU and Tulsa teams in a sold out Moody, and taking on a tougher non-conference schedule.
Your comment about not graduating players couldn't be any further from the truth. I believe Hanc0ck is the only player who didn't graduate under Dement. Sasser eventually went back and got his degree.
If the CIT even existed back then we would've easily been in that tourney or the other bogus tourney that is one notch above CIT and one below NIT. Actually, I highly doubt the Copeland era would've funded those additional home games so that's the only reason we would've have had those games.
Considering the lack of resources at the time, it's a joke to even compare what Doh has done with what Dement did at SMU.

[PonyKai]

You're high if you think this run has topped Dement's.